I have now played twice and this event card made an appearance in both games. A different interpretation of the following question was made in each game: does the staff member return to the original player during clean up?The 'Headhunter' option is the bottom half of the card and that is why there is some confusion. I don't recall what the top half of the card is but it is a 'pinned' card, meaning it goes away during clean up. Well, folks in last night's game argued that only the top effect is pinned since that is where it is physically depicted. I say the entire card is pinned. The effect otherwise is hugely flawed, that a player can create a 20 point swing (stealing the 10 point staffer) with simply playing a card, wiping out *permanently* a card the original player paid half his starting cash for. There is not other card in the game anywhere that powerful. I think it is obvious that this event's purpose is to claim for ONE turn only the ability of some staffer; 4th action, extra money, etc.

No the staff member doesn't return. If you want them back you need to head hunt or Instant Karma them back. Head hunting is a more dangerous attack card because it isn't blocked - but you can play the same card in response.

Of course, having some event cards in your hand always makes your opponents think that you have defences waiting and they may look at less well defended parks.

The pin applies only to the half it's shown on. There are very few pinned bottom halves, but Animal Sighting in the Jungle pack is one example. There are never any cases where both halves of the card have a pin.

Head Hunting is stealing a staff member outright. You can use your own Head Hunting in reply, or Instant Karma to immediately reverse it. If your plans rely on a specific staff member that you cannot afford to lose, then keeping one of those two cards in hand is vital. The combination of Frivolous Lawsuit and Dumpster Diving can be another way to recover a stolen staff member. Vlad's Impaler also offers a way of finding the exact staff member you want from either deck or discard.

The Mesmerist allows stealing and using a staff member for only one round, with a specific provision in its rules for returning that staff member in the Cleanup step.

A defensive technique you can use if you want to protect a high-value card is to keep it in hand until the final round and build it in the Park step after the Events are done. This guarantees you control of the card, but the cost for that level of defense is that your hand size becomes effectively one card smaller for the duration of the game. You're also usually limited to 3 builds in the final round, so this technique can't be used for many cards.

It's important to note that when theme packs in Unfair add a new power, they also add the features needed to mitigate or defend it. Head Hunting is in the Vampire pack and it's unblockable, but because it's not destructive (as in, the staff member is still in play) it's also reversible, and the Vampire pack adds Instant Karma to allow that reversal.

There are balances added in this way in each pack. Ninja has more demolition attacks, for example, but also includes the Gate Guard, the Lost & Found Attendant, and Extra Insurance, so that the attacks can be defended or mitigated.

Last night we had this situation occur. I used Head Hunter to take the 10 point Staffer from Deana, Deana then used Instant Karma to take him back....and I used Instant Karma on her to take him back again.She was not happy............but it was very lopsided in my favor anyway so it really didn't matter.We generally hold him until late game or watch for him to be in the discard and use Dumpster Diving.

Okay, so there are defense cards in the deck, but that's all moot if you never see them. I do still like the game but unfortunately this lowers the game a notch for me.

you probably never see them because you aren't willing to use one of your 3 Park actions to draw Event cards

After more than a half dozen games I'm only beginning to see the need to use actions to draw Events. I think most players will focus on the goal of building their park, taking and drawing Park cards and building them.

In my experience, drawing Blueprints and Events is rarely done until after a few games experience. That makes sense to me since you don't really know what's in those decks until you've seen them in play several times, where the Park deck has Attractions and Upgrades which you can see in the Market.

Having a phase where everyone draws an Event card is a great way to show players their value. The Game Changer that starts everyone with a Blueprint might be a good addition to first games too.

Okay, so there are defense cards in the deck, but that's all moot if you never see them. I do still like the game but unfortunately this lowers the game a notch for me.

you probably never see them because you aren't willing to use one of your 3 Park actions to draw Event cards

Not only do use the 'draw event cards' action, I use is along with the action card that allows you to keep all cards you draw. I understand it's just a fluke of cards games. In two complete games I never got the event card that gives $5 on the spot. I just don't like the headhunter. Maybe if the player were required to pay the player he steals from, maybe 1/2 what he paid?

Omg, I'm so dumb. I remember getting a staff member that gets me 5 coins per round head hunted early on and be really annoyed because there's no counters in my hand. Meanwhile I'm holding dumpster diving and didn't think to get the head hunter back and use it to get my staff member back. Anyways, that experience soured my view of the game but now that I see that I could have countered it, the rating is going up. Great design but this game can give off a very deceptive vibe that feels more unfair than the game actually is, now I want to play it again.

There is also a meta strategy approach to certain theme pack elements.

I know a certain player who, while playing with Vampire and its extra 3 staff members and head huntings, refuses to take staff in the game until close to the end. This is to minimise the chance that he will lose one.

It often works out well for him, but other players cotton onto this and can play around it, selecting staff from the market at a lower priority knowing he will pass over them. And they can hold onto their own head huntings more likely as a defense card.

Meanwhile I'm holding dumpster diving and didn't think to get the head hunter back and use it to get my staff member back.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Dumpster Diving only work on the Park card discard pile? It wouldn't be able to retrieve the Head Hunter card from the event discard pile?

That's also my assumption. It wouldn't be able to dive into the events deck. But Joel mentions using a Frivolous Lawsuit which will dump the staff member back in the park discard pile. Then Dumpster Dive will work. Note that all of these of the cards are in the same pack (Vampire). Pretty savvy designing!